dog day picnics
August 8, 2010 by Travis Hansen
Travis is the Executive Chef at the Butchart Gardens. 
The dog days of summer have arrived and thus initiated the universally recognized time to embrace al fresco dining on Vancouver Island. Everywhere you look you’ll see baskets of fresh fruit, garden vegetables, gleaming fish and packed cars heading off to a favorite picnic spot.
For me, nothing defines summer more then a outdoor meal with friends and family. There is something irrationally joyful about eating outside, sitting on a blanket and leisurely picking at grilled vegetables or BBQ fish. Living on Vancouver Island we are so lucky to be surrounded by a beautiful coastline and all the picnic possibilities it offers.
As a chef people often ask you what meal I would choose for my final supper. I’m always tempted to live up to expectations and describe an opulent multi-course dinner prepared according to the strictest classical standards by a celebrity chef. However to respond this way would be dishonest.
My final meal would take place on a Vancouver Island beach. The menu would be foil wrapped salmon baked on a beach fire, crab boiled in sea water drenched in garlic butter, corn roasted in its husk, poached spot prawns and a fresh baguette to mop up the remains. I would wash it all down with a bottle of cheap wine and some even cheaper beer.
I’ve attached a recipe for the raspberry vinaigrette dressing we use at The Butchart Gardens for our Picnics which you can enjoy on our lawns on firework Saturdays.
3 Tablespoons of wildflower honey
1 pint of fresh raspberries
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (stems removed)
1/2 cup of raspberry vinegar
1 3/4 cup of olive oil
Puree the honey, raspberries, thyme leaves and vinegar together then slowly incorporate the olive oil. This is a great dressing or local organic greens or fresh spinach.
Latest posts by Travis Hansen
- pickled cucumber - November 23rd, 2010
- raspberry vinaigrette - August 8th, 2010
- spot prawns, fusili, pesto & cherry tomatoes - June 11th, 2010
- finger food & story time - June 9th, 2010
- spot prawns on corn & pea succotash - April 8th, 2010
Outdoor dining is so great, we usually take the kids down to a park near our house called Saxe Point, still a hidden gem although our favourite spot seems to be getting more and more popular. We bring the portable grill and a bunch of fresh veg and hot dogs or hamburgers(once we did a big crab boil with some friends visiting from Australia) hard to beat it. We should do a group picnic some time I’ll bring the beer since I’m scared of the even cheaper beer you might bring.